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Example research essay topic: Henry The Ii King Of England Western Civilization - 1,325 words

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... was only resolved by disastrous news from the East. In 1187 the Christian princes of the Holy land had been catastrophically defeated at the Horns of Haiti by the brilliant infidel soldier Saladin; the True Cross, the most holy relic of Christendom, had been taken, and the Holy City itself was threatened. It was the ethos of those days that to all true Christians the fate of the Holy City was more important than life. Henry, Philip Augustus, and Richard agreed to a truce that would allow them to go to the defense of the Holy land. The truce lasted for less than six months.

It was Phillip Augustus who broke it, and with it Henry's spirit. Henry was an old man now, over fifty, worn out by his failure with the sons whom he still treated with a father's loyalty, and Philip's duplicity was beyond his powers to combat. Philip egged Richard into truce-breaking, complained of it to Henry, and when Henry refused the bait himself started the war again. Henry, naturally, fought capably; it was Richard who forced him to a disadvantageous peace, and then refused to accept it. The poor little Princess Alice was involved in his demands again, and Henry refused to hand her over as Richard's wife. It is possible that she was Henry's mistress; but it is also possible that his generous spirit simply revolted at handing her over to his sodomite son, who slept in her half-brother's bed.

By now Henry's fatherly feelings had reached their end. It is likely that he came finally to hate his heir when Richard committed tie ultimate treachery of doing homage to Philip for his father's land in France. Henry's only counter was to have Papal Legate threaten Philip with an interdict for his failure to go on Crusade. Undisturbed, Philip invaded Maine and besieged Henry's birthplace LeMans, and neither henry nor his commander, William the Marshal, could save it. Henry watched his city burning, and cried out against the God who had deserted him. He met Richard and Philip at Colombieres, so ill that he could hardly stay in the saddle.

Even cold Philip took pity on him, and offered a cloak for him to sit on. henry refused; even when his mount reared in a sudden flash of lightning he kept his saddle. It was his only triumph. He had to agree to give Richard Alice and the homage of his barons, he had to do homage to Philip himself for his lands in France and agree to join him on Crusade. When he gave Richard the customary kiss of peace at the conclusion of the treaty, he whispered, "Let God only spare my life to be revenged on you!" (9) He went, dying, back to Chinon, and there read over the list of those whose fealty he was to relinquish to Richard. Among them was the name of his best loved - son John.

He turned his face to the wall, saying "Then let all times go as they must, for I care no longer for myself or my world. " (10) He lingered for a few days longer, like a true Angevin raging to the last: " Cursed be the day I born and cursed of God the sons I leave behind me. " (11) He was buried in the abbey of Fontrevault, and it is said that his body lay there in state Richard came and stood for a time in silence. Yet England blessed the day of Henry II was born. He found her wrecked by the worst and most sterile excesses of the feudal system, and he left her peaceful, prosperous, and law-abiding. It is not Beckett who has the last word on him, nor his capricious wife or treacherous sons, but Peter of Blois, the chronicler who speaks for the common people of his time. " I loved him (wrote Peter), I loved him, I shall always love him. Everybody loved him, because he exacted swift justice and made peace. " (12) Something of the spirit of Arthur had come back with Henry II. Henry II was born in Le Mans, France, in March 1133.

The grandson of Henry I was the first Plantagenet king of England. His mother was Matilda, daughter of Henry I. His father was Geoffrey of Anjou, whom Matilda married after the death of her first husband, Emperor Henry V. Geoffrey was called Plantagenet for his habit of wearing in his cap a sprig of the broom plant, which in Latin is called planta genista.

During his mother's conflict with Stephen for the English throne he was brought to England. Stephen eventually recognized his claim, and Henry became king of England in 1154 after Stephen's death. Henry II held England and Normandy by his mother's right. From his father he inherited, as French fiefs, the important counties of Anjou, Maine, and Touraine. By his marriage with Eleanor of Aquitaine, whose marriage with the French king Louis VII had been annulled, he acquired Poitou, Guyenne, and Gascony, so that he held most of the British Isles and about half of France.

Henry II reestablished law and order after the anarchy of Stephen's reign. He improved the military service by permitting the barons to pay shield money, or scutage, in place of serving in the army. With this he hired soldiers who would fight whenever and wherever he wished an important means of maintaining control over the powerful nobles of the land. His greatest work was the reform of the law courts. He brought the Curia Regis (King's Court) into every part of England by sending learned judges on circuit through the land to administer the "king's justice. " Thus gradually one system of law took the place of the many local customs that had been in use. He also established the grand jury.

Now accusations could be brought by a body of representatives of the community against evildoers who were so powerful that no single individual dared accuse them. The petit jury, also called petty or trial jury, substituted the weighing of evidence and testimony by sworn men for the old superstitious trial by combat or by ordeal. Henry even attempted to bring churchmen who committed crimes under the jurisdiction of the king's courts, but the scandal caused by the murder of Archbishop Thomas Beckett in the course of this quarrel forced him to give up this reform. Henry's last years were embittered by the rebellion of his sons, aided by Philip Augustus of France and by their mother, the unscrupulous Eleanor. The king old, sick, and discouraged had to consent to the terms demanded of him.

When he saw the name of John, his favorite son, among those of his enemies, he exclaimed, "Now let all things go as they will; I care no more for myself, nor for the world. " (13) Two days later he died, muttering, "Shame, shame on a conquered king. " (14) He was succeeded by his son Richard. VII. Quotations (1) Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (2) Walter Map (3) King Louis the VII of France (4) Peter of Blois (5) Fritz Stephen (6) Thomas Beckett (7) Henry II King of England (8) Henry II King of England (9) Henry II King of England (10) Henry II King of England (11) Henry II King of England (12) Peter Blois (13) Henry II King of England (14) Henry II King of England VIII. Bibliography I. Jean Morris, The Monarchs of England, Charterhouse, New York, 1975 Pages 47 - 58 II. John Richard Green, A short history of the english people, American Book Co. , New York, 1916 Pages 105 - 116 III.

Norman C. Cantor, Medieval Lives, HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 1994 pages 110 - 122 IV. Regine Period, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Coward-McCann, Inc. , New York 1968 pages 87 - 188 V. Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia, Windows Version 4. 00, Compton's Learning Company, 1996 Edition


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Research essay sample on Henry The Ii King Of England Western Civilization

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